With the election approaching, Drive finds out where the parties stand on automotive issues.

Politics and cars: Where do the parties stand?

The last time Australians went to the polls the automotive landscape was very different.

Holden and Toyota were both trying to find ways to continue building cars here, despite Ford's decision to announce its plans to close its local plants prior to the 2013 federal election.

Autonomous cars were still under development rather than a reality on our roads three years ago too. And the idea that a major car manufacturer would deliberately cheat the emissions testing scheme seemed far-fetched.

Now another federal election is approaching, which gives motoring enthusiasts - or anyone who drives a car - a chance to express their feelings to the government on the car-related issues that matter to them.

While the likes of national security, marriage equality and climate change dominate the political discussion, for every Australian that drives the issues surrounding the motoring industry are important. The end of the local manufacturing represents the start of a new era. The proposed changes to the import restrictions, the emergence of self-driving cars and question of Australia's emissions standards are all the subject to debate.

We ask some of the leading political figures their views on motoring issues ahead of the federal election Photo: Max Mason-Hubers

So in order to help you decide who to vote for next weekend, Drive asked the major political parties and key independent politicians the same series of questions to find out where they stand on the hot topics.

We had responses from the Liberal Party's Paul Fletcher, the Minister for Major Projects, Senator Kim Carr from the Labor Party, Ricky Muir of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party and Nick Xenophon, the Independent Senator from South Australia who has been a vocal advocate for the local industry.

The Greens leader Richard di Natale was invited to contribute but failed to respond.

Import changes

The Turnbull government has spent the better part of 18 months looking at changes to the vehicle import regulations.

Under the proposed scheme, Australian consumers would have the opportunity to import a right-hand drive car of equivalent safety standards from an overseas market - initially the UK and Japan.

Customers would only be able to import one car every two years (to rule out businesses taking advantage of the scheme) and be limited to cars less than 12 months old and that have travelled no more than 500km.

It is a controversial proposal with the local automotive industry raising concerns over the safety of the plan, which potentially opens the doors to cars with unknown histories, and would make potential safety recalls difficult to manage.

Not surprisingly Fletcher, who has been instrumental in creating the proposed changes, offers a different point-of-view. He believes it will give Australian car buyers more choice than ever before.

"Economic modelling prepared for the Government suggests that the vast majority of Australians will still buy their new cars from their trusted local dealer – but this will offer additional choice to consumers," Fletcher explained. "For example someone who may be interested in say the diesel variant of a model which is only sold in a petrol variant in Australia."

But his view is not shared by his political rivals with both Carr and Xenophon labelling the proposed changes poorly planned and potentially having a negative impact for both the industry and consumers.

"The Liberals have done serious damage to the car industry in this country," Carr claimed. "Their recent backflip on changing parallel import laws must be viewed with a healthy dose of scepticism.

"In their initial response to the Harper Review, the Liberals said they would not proceed with removing parallel import restrictions on second hand cars. Now the proposal is back on the table and whichever way you spin it, a car with 500km on the odometer that is 12 months old is not a new car."

He added: "When considering any changes to motor standards in the future, Labor's priorities will be on road safety, consumer protection, environmental performance and jobs."

Xenophon said the Liberal Party needs to rethink its position amid the current upheaval in the local industry.

"It hasn't been thought through by government," he said. "At a time of crisis for our auto manufacturing sector, these proposed changes will have an impact on jobs in local dealer networks, negative consumer impacts in terms of warranties and questionable consumer benefits. The government needs to pause, consult and think this through."

Muir, on the other hand, would like to see the restrictions relaxed even further to allow motorists to buy more affordable, used cars.

"The original suggestion made by the Harper Review – for all vehicles less than five years of age to be eligible for import – would have made a genuine difference in the marketplace," Muir said.

"It would have allowed those who can't afford a new car to step up into a vehicle that is much safer than the one they may currently own. It is wrong to assume that when every Australian moves to purchase their next vehicle that it will be a new vehicle or that they could even afford to enter the new vehicle market."

Luxury car tax

One of the most common complaints we receive from Drive readers is the cost of cars compared to overseas markets. As we have explained previously, a large reason for that are the government charges applied to new motor vehicles. The most controversial of these is the Luxury Car Tax (LCT).

The car industry points out that no other "luxury" item - including boats, private planes, art, jewellry and expensive handbags - are slugged with an additional "luxury" item tax. The industry argues that not only is it unfair but it is also a key factor in driving up the price of a new car, as it is one of several government charges specifically applied to motor vehicles.

But it looks set to stay with neither the Liberal nor Labor sides of politics giving any indication they will make any changes to it if they are elected.

"Labor has no plans to cut the Luxury Car Tax," Carr explained. "The Luxury Car Tax is a progressive tax that is targeted at those who can best afford to pay.

"Labor believes in progressive taxation. It is an approach based on a fundamental belief in equity and fairness."

But if Xenophon is re-elected he will push to try and change the government's mind as he believes it is a potentially better way to make new cars cheaper for consumers than the proposed import changes.

"I supported the Luxury Car Tax at the time of the Rudd Government, but with amendments to take away its retrospective elements," Xenophon told Drive.

"It hasn't brought in the revenue that was anticipated, and I'd rather see a change to the Luxury Car Tax than the parallel import changes."

Muir, meanwhile, points out that the LCT was designed to protect the local manufacturing industry – as its threshold was just above the price of the top-of-the-shelf Holden Caprice and Ford Fairlane – which will be irrelevant by the end of 2017.

"The reality is that most people purchasing new cars over the LCT limit are usually salary sacrificing or leasing, so they're paying tax on one hand, and getting a tax break in the other," Muir said.

"It seems a bit disingenuous of certain lobby groups to claim that buyers of new cars over the limit should effectively be entitled to tax cuts when they are already receiving them, in the same way it seems disingenuous to suggest that LCT is the only reason we pay some of the highest car prices in the western world."

Cleaner Cars

Photo: iStock

Another hang-up from the local manufacturing industry is Australia's current position on vehicle emissions. In order to protect the locally-made cars Australia's emission standards lag well behind Europe.

Australia is currently using Euro4 standards and will only move to Euro5 levels on November 1, 2016. By contrast, Europe has been using even cleaner Euro6 regulations since September 2014.

The recent Volkswagen emissions scandal has brought emissions to the front of many consumers' minds. It makes up a part of the wider climate change discussion and the role the automotive sector should play in making the world a healthier place.

According to Fletcher it is something a Liberal government would look at seriously if it were re-elected, having already begun the process in 2015 with a Ministerial Forum to review emissions standards.

"The Forum is in the process of consulting with industry with the aim of reducing harmful emissions on Australian roads and in our cities from motor vehicles," he said. "Issues under consideration include the implementation of Euro 6 for light vehicles and Euro VI for heavy vehicles, fuel standards, fuel efficiency measures (CO2) for light vehicles, as well as emission testing arrangements."

As part of its Climate Change Action Plan, Labor has committed to a 45 per cent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, and zero net pollution by 2050.

But there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that, Carr admitted.

"We are now one of the very few OECD nations without mandatory vehicle emission standards," he acknowledged. "Improving energy efficiency in our transport sector is one clear way of improving energy productivity and reducing emissions.

"That is why part of Labor's commitment to reduce emissions includes new mandatory light vehicle emissions standards, to be phased-in from 2020. These standards will cut pollution on our roads and reduce the emissions intensity for all light vehicles.

"These standards would broadly bring Australia into line with the United States, which reflects the greater comparability between the Australian and the United States vehicle fleet, rather than Europe."

Muir is broadly supportive of cutting emissions but explained that there are a "number of issues" that make him unwilling to commit to adopting international standards.

"Firstly, you have governments overseas randomly picking vehicle emissions targets out of thin air (pardon the pun)," he said. "Sure it helps to show they're strong on environmental issues when elections roll around, but it places huge pressures on vehicle manufacturers."

He also cites the differences in laboratory-based emissions testing and real-world returns as another factor and the differences between individual regulations between the states.

Xenophon's view is that the demise of the local industry weakens the argument against bringing Australian standards in line with Europe.

Electric cars

Reducing the emissions in internal combustion cars is one thing, but Australia is also falling behind the rest of the world in supporting alternative fuel vehicles – specifically electric cars.

It is something that hasn't gone unnoticed in the car industry. While the likes of Nissan and Tesla are offering EVs, there are others who would consider introducing EVs and plug-in hybrids locally if there are more incentives to consumers.

Fletcher said the government's vehicle emissions forum will also look into what measures could be introduced but didn't indicate if consumer incentives would be included.

Labor is more overt in its position on incentives with Carr confirming it would look to introduce measures for EV and hydrogen vehicles.

These could include working with the states to provide incentives such as registration fee holidays; accelerating the development of standards to harmonise charging stations and billing methods; reducing barriers to electric vehicle charging in homes; and coordinating efforts with State Governments, Councils, and the private sector to roll out required infrastructure in high traffic areas such as public transport park and rides, car parks, shopping centres, playgrounds and sporting venues.

As the public face of the Motoring Enthusiast party Muir is happy to save fuel – in order to have the most fun with it.

"Oil is a finite resource, and we will need to transition away from it regardless at some stage," he said. "Besides, we should save what's left of it for enthusiast vehicles so they can be preserved through history and used into the future!"

However, he also raised the more serious issue of looking at the whole-of-life factors in using electric vehicles.

"For example, if we're still using coal-fired generators to produce our electricity in Australia, or if new open-cut mines are being opened across the world to supply lithium for batteries, the environmental benefits of electric vehicles may be limited," he said.

From Xenophon's perspective electric vehicles are a positive but he would like to see a local angle to the market.

"If there's a local manufacturing component of green cars then I would be more sympathetic for more generous incentives, but as a general rule, inducements to go green should be encouraged."

While The Greens didn't respond to our questions in time, they did announce an electric vehicle plan during the campaign.

The party set a target of 31,000 more EVs and 330 more charging stations around the country by 2021. To achieve that it would call for free registration for EVs, $151 million in grants to encourage infrastructure and another $50m to encourage fleets to adopt EVs. It would also want to increase the LCT to 50 per cent on fossil fuel vehicles over $100,000 to help drive consumers to electric cars, but also raise money for its financial incentives.

Self-driving cars

The rate of automotive development often out-paces government legislation. Nowhere is that more relevant than autonomous driving.

In the three years since the last election the technology has moved from internal development to showrooms.

Tesla's Autopilot function, Audi's Traffic Jam Assist and Mercedes-Benz' Stop-and-Go Pilot are just a few examples of ready-to-buy cars that can drive without any significant human input. And the technology is developing at such a rapid rate that self-driving cars will be a common item on premium cars in a matter of years.

But, as of today, there is no legislation surrounding the use of the technology. It is a grey area that needs clarifying for the sake of road users, law enforcement and automotive development.

While all sides of politics are looking at the issue there is still no clear commitment to changing any laws.

Fletcher says "Autonomous driving is an emerging technology which could provide a range of safety and productivity benefits for Australia. In preparation for this emerging technology, the Government has been working through the National Transport Commission to identify barriers to automated technologies in both road and rail."

From Labor's point-of-view, Carr cautioned that all levels of government need to work together to introduce new laws that make it clear for motorists.

"Labor is a strong supporter of new automotive technologies, including autonomous driving technologies," he said. "However it is important that the emerging federal, state and territory legislation and regulations are harmonised and designed to deal with the arrival of autonomous vehicles and driving systems. Labor stands ready to work with our state and territory counterparts to get this right."

Muir, meanwhile, raised the issue of safety, not just for the cars but also the impact the technology could have on driving standards.

"I am concerned that there may come a point where driver skill is decreased due to using 'autonomous' technology where is has the connectivity to support it but drivers who suddenly find themselves in areas outside of where the technology works losing the necessary skill to be in control and respond accordingly in an emergency," he said.

Xenophon expressed support but said safety should be the key priority for any changes.

What they drive

Paul Fletcher, Liberal Party - 2009 Saab 9-3

"As a big Saab fan, my previous car was a Saab 900. I was extremely disappointed when General Motors closed down Saab as a subsidiary after acquiring the original Swedish company a few years earlier."

Kim Carr, Labor Party - Ford Territory

"I drive an Australian made MkII Ford Territory and have driven a Ford Territory for many years since they began production of the model. It's a great car."

Nick Xenophon, Independent - 2006 Toyota Yaris

"I say [it] embarrassingly because it doesn't have any hub caps left from my lousy curbside parking and I'm sure there's still remnants of a pizza I brought in 2011 in the car! But seriously it's been a great little reliable car, in spite of my driving skills."

Ricky Muir, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party - Hyundai iMax

"At present in my driveway I have the family of seven's comfortable, spacious and efficient commuter – a Hyundai iMax turbo diesel.

"Of all these, my personal favourite is the iMax. Just kidding (although it is very good at what it does). The vehicle I really love most is the other one – the family four wheel drive; a 1994 HZJ80 Toyota Landcruiser 80 Series."